Carcinoembryonic antigen-like substance derived from human prostate.

Carcinoembryonic antigen-like substance, previously detected in large amounts in the medium from cultures of human prostatic epithelial cells, also is present in extracts of benign and malignant human prostate. By column chromatography, the prostate-derived carcinoembryonic antigen-like substance derived from cultured prostate is the same as that in tissue extracts and is distinctly different from colon-derived carcinoembryonic antigen. The molecular weight of prostate-derived carcinoembryonic antigen-like substance is estimated to be greater than 5 x 10(5). Prostate-derived carcinoembryonic antigen-like substance may be a prostate-specific substance.